There are only a few weeks of the fantasy football regular season left to go before the playoffs. According to my research, the magic number to make the playoffs in FFPC dynasty leagues is 29 Victory Points (VP). This week is probably about the last chance for teams that are in the hunt to make a legitimate push for one of the last playoff spots. If you are a contender already, then it is time to thoroughly load up for your playoff run. It depends on your league, though. In the Footballguys Players Championship (FBG) and Main Event tourneys, the regular season ends after Week 12, so there are only three weeks left to go!
RESULTS
That was fun! I really worked hard this last week to make waiver claims and set lineups. I had a lot of gaps to fill and some difficult decisions to make. They largely worked out for me. Like when I chose Donovan Peoples-Jones (WR – CLE) in a flex spot over Khalil Herbert (RB – CHI), who I was afraid would be relegated to a backup role with David Montgomery (RB – CHI) back in the lineup. I was right and benched Herbert in a lot of spots. Not all, though.
The highlight of the week for me was winning a big matchup against a rival in a SuperFlex (SF) dynasty league that I won last year. I am down to $0 FAAB and have made some key trades these last couple of weeks, while I am right on the verge of a playoff seed. I needed just six fantasy points going into the MNF game and had my Bears defense active. They only had one point at the beginning of the fourth quarter and I was sure they would falter. But three sacks and a fumble recovery for a touchdown on special teams sealed the win for me! It was particularly satisfying because I made a bit of a blockbuster trade (see below) that helped me tremendously.Â
FFPC Dynasty Teams:Â It was a mixed bag as far as wins and losses, as per usual. My SF side is doing incredible. My single-QB side not so much, but that was part of the plan in terms of the quality of SF project teams I took on this year compared to that of single-QB. A few teams have already eclipsed the magic VP number of 29. Several others are close behind. More of my teams are down to $0 FAAB than I am comfortable with and this is an area I need to emphasize in terms of lessons learned in 2021, though so far I am not being punished for it. That could change.
FFPC Redraft Tourneys: Just three weeks to go here for the regular season. All of my teams are either strong contenders or straight dead. There are now only maybe four or five teams that are sort of not dead just yet. One in particular that I have buried three times now is suddenly alive and kicking. Last year I took two of these FBG teams into the big dance despite drafting Christian McCaffrey (RB – CAR) and losing his season to injury. Like poker, wild swings can happen in FF. Don’t give up. Hustling can get you a winning season.
WAIVERS WEEK 9
Here are a few players I am targeting this week:
QB: Justin Fields $, Carson Wentz, Mike White, Matt Ryan, P.J. Walker
RB: Eno Benjamin $, Devonta Freeman, Jordan Howard
WR: Donovan Peoples-Jones, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Elijah Moore$
TE: Anyone with a pulse if you need them
RECENT TRADES
Mine: In the SF league referenced above, I had lost Derrick Henry (RB – TEN) to injury recently. I moved him, along with Elijah Mitchell (RB – SF), and two 2022 second-round draft picks, for the package of Cooper Kupp (WR – LAR), Darrell Henderson (RB – LAR), and Darrel Williams (RB – KC). In that same league last week I made (and wrote about in this series) a $0 FAAB necessity trade where I needed to acquire a kicker and received Younghoe Koo (K – ATL), who made the difference between me winning and losing this week.Â
In a different SF league I moved Terrace Marshall (WR – CAR), who I love, along with DJ Chark (WR – JAX), and a set of 2022 second and third-round picks. I received Mike Williams (WR – LAC), Kadarius Toney (WR – NYG), and Boston Scott (RB – PHI). None of those players helped me this week but I love that trade. I still hold a really high number of shares of Marshall.Â
In yet another competing SF team with $0 FAAB, I moved a 2022 second and fourth-round pick for Damien Harris (RB – NE). I need RB depth after losing Henry. I also managed to pick up Freeman with my last $2 FAAB.
Finally, in a busy week of trades, on a team that is in first place, I moved Travis Etienne (RB – JAX), Trey Sermon (RB – SF), and a 2022 third-round pick for James Conner (RB – AZ), Scantling, and a 2022 second-round pick. I think MVS can be a league winner with Aaron Rodgers (QB – GB) possibly playing the second half of this season with an even bigger chip on his shoulder than ever before. And I need another strong RB for my playoff run. Conner is killing it. I don’t have a lot of faith in the Jaguars and I am skeptical of Etienne’s ability to recover from his lisfranc injury. I consider Sermon to basically be a face planter at this point. There is a very real possibility that in one year’s time the most valuable part of this deal will be the second-round pick I acquired.
Theirs: Nothing that really caught my eye. A lot of people are also down to $0 FAAB and/or really low budgets and it makes some of the jostling around very interesting. Additionally, people are in full tanking mode right now in some leagues. Even though it probably makes sense for them to be trying to make deals, they are nowhere to be found. It happens.
FF GAMESMANSHIP
I was really pretty blown away that Eno Benjamin didn’t go for more FAAB last night. Some of the reasons are that people don’t have as much budget to spend anymore, and smaller bids can win than earlier in the season. But there were several leagues where Benjamin could have been awarded for single-digit bids, even though I bid over $150 in some leagues. I also got him for $3 in some spots where I’m broke. Not that I am expecting a lot, but I think this is as good as RB waiver pickup as we’re going to find this late in the season.
Until the next one.
Never give up and let’s keep balling folks!
Thanks for reading! Feel free to reach out to me to chat about fantasy football on Twitter @Ship_Chaser and follow along with me on my journey as I chase six-figure paydays! Look for my new articles soon!
